“Just as the civil society has been involved in the formulation of a Lokpal Bill, so should people's representatives be allowed to participate in framing a new, comprehensive law on Development Planning that includes Resettlement and rehabilitation of those displaced by projects.” To intensify stir This is the demand of pradhans of several western Uttar Pradesh villages, who, along with along with representatives of the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) spoke...

A Working Group (WG) set up by the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) has drafted a detailed note on land acquisition and relief and rehabilitation which seeks not only to go beyond the pending government bills on the subject, but recommends that the two be merged into a single National Development, Acquisition, Displacement and Rehabilitation Act. Interestingly, it rejects the Haryana model that Congress leaders only too often hold up...

Recently released data on infant deaths across states in India has thrown up surprising results, leaving health experts puzzled. Average infant mortality rate for the country as a whole stood at 50 in 2009, down by 30% compared to a decade ago. The rate is much higher than developed countries but the pace at which it is declining is encouraging. But the surprises lurk in state level data. Three states -...

-Express News Service   Even as the State government readies for land acquisition for the Posco steel project, the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), which is spearheading a movement against the project, has announced that it would oppose the process. To add to the woes, the United Action Committee (UAC), a pro-Posco outfit, has threatened not to cooperate with the Jagatsinghpur district administration for the land acquisition.   PPSS president Abhay Sahu told...

Expressing disappointment with a Supreme Court order that reversed a Madhya Pradesh High Court judgment on rehabilitation and Resettlement of adult sons of the Omkareshwar dam displaced people, the Madhya Pradesh unit of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) on Thursday said it would file a review plea. “These cases were filed by the Madhya Pradesh government against High Court orders that favoured proper rehabilitation under the land-for-land policy for dam-displaced people,”...